Biography

Death: Joan (the Fair Maid) of Kent died on August 8, 1385, at age 56, in Wallingford Castle, Berkshire, England.

Note: Joan was daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent and Margaret Wake. Her paternal granparents were Edward I of England and his second Queen consort Marguerite of France. Her father was a younger half-brother of Edward II of England. Edmund's support of the King placed him in conflict with the Queen, Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. When Edward II was deposed, Joan's father was executed. The Earl’s widow, Margaret Wake, was left with four children. Her younger daughter, Joan, was only two years old. Her cousin, the new King, Edward III, took on the responsibility for the family, and looked after them well. His wife, Queen Philippa, was well known for her tender-heartedness, and Joan grew up at court, where she became friendly with her cousins, including Edward, the Black Prince. At the age of twelve, she entered into a clandestine marriage with Thomas Holland of Broughton. The following year, while Holland was overseas, her family forced her into a marriage with William Montacute. As Countess of Salisbury, Joan moved in the highest society. Some historians identify her as the mystery woman who appeared at a banquet in Calais and attracted the attention of every man present. Allegedly, while dancing with the King, the lady lost her blue velvet garter, and this was the origin of the Order of the Garter. It is more likely that Joan's mother-in-law was the woman involved. It was not for several years that Thomas Holland returned from crusade, having made his fortune, and the full story of his earlier relationship with Joan came out. He appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. When the Earl of Salisbury discovered that Joan supported Holland’s case, he kept her a virtual prisoner in her own home. In 1349, Pope Clement VI annulled Joan’s marriage to the Earl and sent her back to Thomas Holland, with whom she lived for the next eleven years. They had four children, then Holland died in 1360. Joan, now widowed but only thirty-two, was a catch by anyone else’s standards. She had inherited the earldom of Kent when her brother died in 1353. She was strikingly beautiful, with perfect features, auburn hair that reached to her waist, and dark eyes, and was regarded as one of the most desirable women in the country. The Black Prince had been in love with her for years, but his father and mother disapproved. Queen Philippa might have made a favourite of Joan at first, but as her son grew older, she had become concerned about the budding romance between the two cousins, and set herself against it. The Archbishop of Canterbury warned the Prince that there could be doubts cast on the legitimacy of any children Joan might bear him, in view of the fact that one of her previous husbands, the Earl of Salisbury, was still alive, but the marriage went ahead with an assurance of absolution from the Pope. They were married in 1361, and almost immediately set sail for France, since the Black Prince was also the Prince of Aquitaine, a region of France which belonged to the English Crown. Two children were born in France, both of them sons. The elder son, named Edward after his father and grandfather, died at the age of six. Around the time of the birth of their younger son, Richard, the prince was lured into a war on behalf of Pedro the Cruel, ruler of Castile. The ensuing battle was one of the Black Prince’s greatest victories, but King Pedro was killed, and there was no money to pay the troops. In the meantime, the Princess was forced to raise another army, because the Prince’s enemies were threatening Aquitaine in his absence. By 1371, the Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine, and returned to England, where plague was wreaking havoc. It killed Joan’s mother, Margaret Wake, in 1372. Joan inherited her title to add to all the others – Lady Wake of Liddel. In that same year, the Black Prince forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope of saving his father’s French possessions. His health was now completely shattered. Later the same year, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, he died in his bed at Westminster. Joan’s son, Richard, was now the heir to the throne, and became King on his grandfather's death in the following year. Early in his reign, the young King faced the challenge of the Peasants' Revolt. The Lollards, religious reformers led by John Wyclif, had enjoyed the protection of Joan of Kent, but the violent climax of the popular movement for reform reduced the feisty Joan to a state of terror, whilst leaving the King with an improved reputation. But for Joan, worse was to come. In 1385, Sir John Holland, an adult son of her first marriage, was campaigning with the King in Scotland, when a quarrel broke out between him and Lord Stafford, a favourite of the new Queen. Stafford was killed, and John Holland sought sanctuary at the shrine of St John of Beverley. On the King’s return, Holland was condemned to death. Joan pleaded with her son for four days to spare his half-brother. On the fifth day, (the exact date in August is not known), she died, at Wallingford Castle. Richard, of course, relented, and pardoned Holland, but the damage was done. Joan was buried at Stamford in Lincolnshire. Sir John Holland was sent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. (Wikipedia)

Will: In the year of our Lord 1385, and of the reign of my dear son Richard, King of England and France, the 9th; at my Castle of Walyngford, in the Diocese of Salisbury, the 7th of August, I Joan Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Countess of Chester, and Lady Wake. My body to be buried in my chapel at Stanford, near the monument of our late lord and husband, the Earl of Kent. To my dear son the King, my new bed of red velvet, embroidered with ostrich feathers of silver, and heads of leopards of gold with boughs and leaves issuing out of their mouths. To my dear son Thomas Earl of Kent, my bed of red camak [sic.] paled with red and rays of gold. To my dear son John Holland, a bed of red camak. And I appoint the Venerable Father in Christ, my dear friend and cousin, Robert Bishop of London; William Bishop of Winchester; John Lord Cobham; William de Beauchamp, William de Nevill, Simon de Burlee, Lewis Clifford, Richard Atterbury, John Clanvow, Richard Stury, John Worthe, steward of my lands, and John le Vache, Knights; together with my dear chaplains, William de Fulburn and John de Yernemouth; and my loving esquires, William de Harpele, and William Norton, my executors. Witnessed by the Prior of Walyngforde and John James. Proved 9th December 1385. (http://home.earthlink.net/~plantagenet60/plantagenet06.htm.)

Biography

Death: Robert II Holland died on October 7, 1328, at age ~58, in Boreham, England.

Note: Sir Robert de Holland of Yoxall, Co. Stafford, Knight Sir Robert de Holland, father of the founder of Upholland, County Lancaster, married Maude, 2nd daughter and co-heir of Sir Alan la Zouche of Ashby, County Leicester, who was grandson of Sir Alan, Lord Zouche, who died 1269, and Elena de Quincy, who was daughter of Roger de Quincy, son of Saire de Quincy, Surety for Magna Charta. Sir Robert was son of Thurstan de Holland, who was son of Sir Robert Holland. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 381)

He was in the wars of Scotland 31st of Edward I, 1303. He owed his advancement to his becoming secretary to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, for previously he had been a poor knight. In 1st of Edward II, 1308, he obtained large territorial grants from the crown in Derbyshire and had military summons to march against the Scots. He was summoned to Parliament 8th of Edward II, 1315. They had Robert, Thomas, Alan, Otho, Jane and Margaret. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 532)

Baron Robert II de Holland was born in Lancastershire, England in 1270. At some point before 1312 he married Maude la Zouche. She was daughter of Lord Alan de la Zouche of Ashby and Eleanor de Segrave. In 1328 he was beheaded in Essex. His body was sent to Lancashire to be buried. He has small fame in geneological as he's apparently an ancestor to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Louis XVI, and Winston Churchill. He also has connections to the royal line of Medieval Scotland. His own ancestry can in fact be traced to William de Columbers born 1151, but in their case even the date or manner of their deaths are often unclear. (Wikipedia.)

La Zouche was the son of Roger La Zouche and his wife, Ela Lonspee. He was born at North Molton and was baptised in the church there. He received seisin of his father's lands after doing homage on October 13, 1289. He married Eleanor Segrave, daughter of Nicholas Segrave, 1st Baron Segrave, who gave birth to three daughters. La Zouche died without sons shortly before March 25, 1314 at the age of 46, and his barony fell into abeyance among his daughters.

Alan was in Gascony with King Edward I of England in October 1288, when he was one of the hostages given by the king to Alfonso of Aragon for the fulfillment of certain agreements. He was in Scotland in the King's service in June of 1291. In April 1294 he had a writ of protection from the King when he travelled overseas with the King's daughter, Eleanor of Bar. He served in Gascony in 1295 and 1296, and was present at the action around Bordeaux on March 28, 1296, when his standard bearer was captured by the French. In 1297 he was summoned for service in Flanders, and attended Councils in Rochester and London in that year.

He was summoned for service against the Scots in 1297-1313. He fought in the Vanguard at the Battle of Falkirk on July 22, 1298. King Edward's army at that battle consisted of 12,000 infantry, including 10,000 Welsh, and 2,000 cavalry. William Wallace, the Scottish leader accepted battle in a withdrawn defensive position. Wallace had few cavalry and few archers; but his solid "schiltrons" (circles) of spearmen were almost invincible. The armoured cavalry of the English vanguard were hurled back with severe losses. Edward brought up his Welsh archers in the intervals between the horsemen of the second line, concentrating their arrows on specific points in the Scotish schiltrons. It was into these gaps that the English knights forced their way, and once the Scottish order was broken the spearmen were quickly massacred. Alan was at the siege of Caerlaverock in July 1300. His part was described in Nicholas' Siege of Carlaverock:

Aleyn de la Souche tresor Signiioit ke fust brians Sa rouge baniere a besans Car bienscai ki a dependu Tresor plus ke en burce pendu He was summoned to Edward II's coronation on January 18, 1307/08. In December of that year he had a protection to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. He was the Constable of Rockingham Castle and the Keeper of the forests between the bridges of Oxford and Stamford. (Wikipedia)

Alan la Zouche. This feudal lord was born 1267 and, having distinguished himself in the wars in Gascony and Scotland in the time of Edward I, he was summoned to Parliament by that monarch as a baron January 26, 1297, and he had regular summons from that date until 7th of Edward II November 26, 1313. In 1312 he was constituted Governor of Rockingham Castle in Northampton and Stewart of Forests in Rockingham Forest. He died 1314, leaving by Eleanor, his wife, daughter of Nicholas de Seagrave, three daughters and co-heirs: Ellen, wife of Nicholas St. Maur (Seymour), Elizabeth, a nun, and Maud. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 532.)

Biography

Note: Roger la Zouche, eldest son, succeeded in 1269 on the death of his father. He married Ela, daughter and co-heir of Stephen de Longespa, 2nd son of William, Earl of Salisbury, natural son of King Henry II and Rosamund Clifford. He died 1285 and was succeeded by his son, Alan. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 532)

Roger la Zouche m. Ela, dau. of Countess of Ulster, and d. in 1285. He was succeeded by his son Alan, b. 1268, who d. in 1314. He left three daughters: Eleanor m. Nicholas Seymour and Alan de Chariton, Mrs. Robert de Holland, and Elizabeth, who became a nun. II.--Endres or lvo ancestor of the Zouches of Harringworth. (Dunham Genealogy English and American Branches of the Dunham Family.)

Biography

Birth: Philip III (The Bold) of France was born on April 3, 1245 in Poissy, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France.

Marriage: He and Isabel of Aragon were married on May 28, 1262 in Clermont, Oise, Picardie, France.

Death: Philip III (The Bold) of France died on October 5, 1285, at age 40, in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.

Note: At the age of twenty-five he ascended to the throne. Indecisive, and dominated by the policies of his father, he followed the dictates of others, first of Pierre de la Broce and then of his uncle Charles I of Anjou, king of Naples. In 1285, the last year of his reign, Philippe made an unsuccessful attempt to annex the kingdom of Aragon. In the aftermath of this struggle, while retreating from Girona, Philippe III died. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Philip III, King of France, was born April 3, 1245, died Oct. 5, 1285. Philip was King of France 1270-1285. He married 1st, May 28, 1262, Isabella, daughter of James I, King of Aragon; 2nd, 1274, Marie, daughter of Henry III, Duke of Brabant. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 378.)

Biography

Death: Margaret Berengar died on December 21, 1295, at age ~74, in Paris, Paris, Ile-de-France, France.

Note: She was a daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Beatrice of Savoy. Her maternal grandparents were Thomas I of Savoy and Marguerite of Geneva, daughter of William I of Geneva. Her older sister Sanchia of Provence became the Queen consort of Richard, Earl of Cornwall and rival King of the Germans. Her sister of similar age Beatrice of Provence was the Queen consort of Charles I of Sicily. Her younger sister Eleanor of Provence became the Queen consort of Henry III of England. Marguerite herself became the Queen consort of Louis IX of France and mother to eleven children. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Edmund Plantagenet, born August 5, 1301, surnamed of Woodstock, from the place of his birth, 2nd son of Edward I, was summoned to Parliament by writ, directed to Edmundo de Woodstock, August 5, 1320. He had previously been in the wars of Scotland and had obtained considerable territorial grants from the crown. In the next year he was created Earl of Kent and had a grant of the Castle of Okham, in the County of Rutland, and shrievalty of the county. About the same time he was constituted Governor of the Castle of Tunbridge. He married Margaret, Countess of Wake, daughter of John Wake, who died in 1304, and was succeeded by his son Thomas, Lord Wake, who died sine prole in 1349, leaving his sister Margaret his heir, who carried the Barony of Wake into the family of Plantagenet. They had two sons, Edmund, who became Baron Wake and Earl of Kent, but died in his minority, and was succeeded by his brother John, who also died sine prole in 1352. Their sister Margaret had also died sine prole, and the Earldom of Kent and the Baronies of Woodstock and Wake, honours of their father and a dignity of their mother, devolved upon their only surviving sister, Joan. (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 383)

Edmund Plantagenet, or Edmund of Woodstock (August 5, 1301 – March 19, 1330) was Earl of Kent from July 28, 1321 (1st creation). He was born at Woodstock, Oxfordshire, the son of King Edward I of England by his second Queen consort Marguerite of France. As the youngest of the six princes he enjoyed his father's favour. Woodstock was married to Margaret Wake, the daughter of Baron John Wake by Joan, sometime between October and December in 1325 at Blisworth in Northamptonshire. He was from 1327 'after the execution and forfeiture of John FitzAlan, 7th Earl of Arundel' for the three remaining years of his life to hold the castle and honour of Arundel, although he was never formally invested with the titles appropriate to his barony. He was the father of Joan of Kent, through whom the earldom eventually passed into the Holland family. Edmund was executed for treason, having supported his half-brother, the deposed King Edward II, by order of the 'Regents Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Queen Isabella of France', before the outer walls of Winchester Castle. It was said that he had conspired to rescue King Edward from prison. Such was public hostility to the execution that "he had to wait five hours for an executioner, because nobody wanted to do it". Woodstock was buried on March 31 at the Church of the Dominican Friars in Winchester. Woodstock's execution would appear a retaliation for Edward I's crushing defeat against Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and because the king had treated his rebellious cousins with such great savagery, pursuing the surviving members of the de Montfort family relentlessly. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Biography

Birth: Marie of Brabant was born in 1256 in Leuven, Brabant, France.

Death: She died on January 12, 1321, at age ~65.

Note: Queen consort of France She was a daughter of Henry III, Duke of Brabant and Henry III, Duke of Brabant and Adelaide of Burgundy , daughter of Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy. Maria became the second wife of Philip III of France in 1274. She was the mother of Louis d'Evreux, Marguerite (wife of Edward I of England), and Blanche, wife of Rudolf I of Germany. Due to her influence Philip became involved in the affairs of the Angevins and in hostilities with the Kingdom of Aragon. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Note: She was a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant. She was also the second Queen consort of King Edward I of England.

Three years after the death of his beloved first wife, Eleanor of Castile, at the age of 48 in 1290, Edward I was still grieving. But news got to him of the beauty of Blanche, sister to King Philip IV of France. Edward decided that he would marry Blanche at any cost and sent out emissaries to negotiate the marriage with Philip. Philip agreed to give Blanche to Edward on the following conditions: a truce was concluded between the two countries and Edward gave up the province of Gascony. Edward, surprisingly, agreed and sent his brother Edmund Crouchback, Duke of Lancaster, to fetch the new bride. Edward had been deceived, for Blanche was to be married to Rudolph I of Bohemia and eldest son of Albert I of Germany. Instead Philip offered his younger sister Marguerite, a young girl of 11, to marry Edward (then 55). Upon hearing this, Edward declared war on France, refusing to marry Marguerite. After five years, a truce was agreed, under the terms of which Edward would marry Marguerite and would regain the key city of Guienne, and receive the £15,000 owed to Marguerite from her father, King Philip III the Bold. Edward was now 60 years old. The wedding took place at Canterbury on September 8, 1299. Edward soon returned to the Scottish border to continue his campaigns and left Marguerite in London. After several months, bored and lonely, the young queen decided to join her husband. Nothing could have pleased the king more, for Marguerite's actions reminded him of his first wife Eleanor, who had had two of her sixteen children abroad.

Marguerite soon became firm friends with her stepdaughter Mary, a nun, who was two years older than the young queen. In less than a year Marguerite gave birth to a son, and then another a year later. It is said that many who fell under the king's wrath were saved from too stern a punishment by the queen's influence over her husband, and the statement, Pardoned solely on the intercession of our dearest consort, queen Marguerite of England, appears. In all, Marguerite gave birth to three children: Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk; Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent; and a daughter, named Eleanor in honor of Edward's first queen, who perished in infancy. The mismatched couple were blissfully happy. When Blanche died in 1306 (her husband never became Emperor), Edward ordered all the court to go into mourning to please his queen. He had realised the wife he had gained was "a pearl of great price". The same year Marguerite gave birth to a girl, Eleanor, a choice of name which surprised many, and showed Marguerite's un-jealous nature. After Edward died, as a widow at twenty six, she never remarried saying "when Edward died, all men died for me", but she used her immense dowry to relieve people's suffering. (Wikipedia.)

Biography

Death: St Louis IX of France died on August 25, 1270, at age 56, in North Africa on Crusade.

Note: He was a member of the Capetian dynasty and the son of King Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. Louis was eleven years old when his father died in 1226. He was crowned king the same year in the cathedral at Reims. Because of Louis' youth, his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled France as regent until 1234, when Louis was deemed of age to rule himself. She continued as an important counsellor to the king until her death in 1252. On May 27, 1234 Louis married Marguerite de Provence (1221–December 21, 1295), the sister of Eleanor, the wife of Henry III of England. Louis was the elder brother of Charles I of Sicily (1227–1285), whom he created count of Anjou, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty. Louis brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade in 1229 after signing an agreement with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse that cleared his father of wrong-doing. Raymond VI had been suspected of murdering a preacher on a mission to convert the Cathars. Louis's piety and kindness towards the poor were much celebrated. He went on crusade twice, in 1248 (Seventh Crusade) and then in 1270 (Eighth Crusade). Both crusades were total failures. After initial success in his first attempt, Louis's army was met by overwhelming resistance from the Egyptian army and citizens. In 1249, Louis was eventually defeated and taken prisoner in Mansoura, Egypt. Louis and his companions were then released in return for the surrender of the French army and a large ransom. He died near Tunis during the latter expedition on August 25, 1270 traditionally during an outbreak of plague but thought by modern scholars to be dysentery. Some of his entrails were buried directly on the spot in Tunisia, where a Tomb of Saint-Louis can still be visited today, whereas other parts of his entrails were sealed in an urn and placed in the Basilica of Monreale, Palermo, where they still remain. His corpse was taken to the French royal necropolis at Saint-Denis, resting in Lyon on the way. His tomb at Saint-Denis was a magnificent gilt brass monument designed in the late 14th century. It was melted down during the French Wars of Religion, at which time the body of the king disappeared. Only one finger was rescued and is kept at Saint-Denis. Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the canonization of Louis in 1297; he is the only French monarch ever to be made a saint. Louis IX was succeeded by his son, Philippe III. Louis IX is often considered the model of the ideal Christian monarch. Because of the aura of holiness attached to the memory of Louis IX, many Kings of France were called Louis, especially in the Bourbon dynasty (Louis XIII to Louis XVIII). (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Biography

Death: Louis VIII (The Lion) of France died on November 8, 1226, at age 39, in Auvergne, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France.

Note: As a prince, Louis won battles against the armies of King John of England. In 1216 the English barons rebelled against the very unpopular King John and offered the throne to Louis. In May of 1216, Prince Louis of France and his army invaded England, but after a year and a half of war, Louis had to give up on his desire to become the King of England and signed the Treaty of Lambeth. Louis succeeded his father on July 14, 1223; his coronation took place on August 6 of the same year in the cathedral at Reims. As king, he continued to seek revenge on the Angevins and seized Poitou and Saintonge from them in 1224. There followed the seizure of Avignon and Languedoc. While returning to Paris, King Louis became ill with dysentery, and died on November 8, 1226 in the chateau at Montpensier, Auvergne. The Saint Denis Basilica houses the tomb of Louis VIII. His son, Louis IX, succeeded him on the throne. son of King Philippe II Auguste and Isabelle of Hainaut. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Biography

Death: Blanche of Castile died on November 26, 1252, at age 64, in Paris, Paris, Ile-de-France, France.

Note: Blanche of Castile was the third daughter of Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, and of Eleanor of England, daughter of Henry II. In consequence of a treaty between Philip Augustus and John of England, she was betrothed to the former's son, Louis, and was brought to France, in the spring of 1200, by John's mother Eleanor. On May 22, 1200 the treaty was finally signed, John ceding with his niece the fiefs of Issoudun and Gracay, together with those that Andr de Chavigny, lord of Chteauroux, held in Berry, of the English crown. The marriage was celebrated the next day, at Portmort on the right bank of the Seine, in John's domains, as those of Philip lay under an interdict. Blanche first displayed her great qualities in 1216, when Louis, who on the death of John claimed the English crown in her right, invaded England, only to find a united nation against him. Philip Augustus refused to help his son, and Blanche was his sole support. The queen established herself at Calais and organized two fleets, one of which was commanded by Eustace the Monk, and an army under Robert of Courtenay; but all her resolution and energy were in vain. Although it would seem that her masterful temper exercised a sensible influence upon her husband's gentler character, her role during his reign (1223-1226) is not well known. Upon his death he left Blanche regent and guardian of his children. Of her twelve or thirteen children, six had died, and Louis, the heir--afterwards the sainted Louis IX--was but twelve years old. The situation was critical, for the hard-won domains of the house of Capet seemed likely to fall to pieces during a minority. Blanche had to bear the whole burden of affairs alone, to break up a league of the barons (1226), and to repel the attack of the king of England (1230). But her energy and firmness overcame all dangers. There was an end to the calumnies circulated against her, based on the poetical homage rendered her by Theobald IV count of Champagne, and the prolonged stay in Paris of the papal legate, Romano Bonaventura, cardinal of Sant' Angelo. The nobles were awed by her warlike preparations or won over by adroit diplomacy, and their league was broken up. St Louis owed his realm to his mother, but he himself always remained somewhat under the spell of her imperious personality. After he came of age (1236) her influence upon him may still be traced. In 1248 she again became regent, during Louis IX's absence on the crusade, a project which she had strongly opposed. In the disasters which followed she maintained peace, while draining the land of men and money to aid her son in the East. At last her strength failed her. She fell ill at Melun in November 1252, and was taken to Paris, but lived only a few days. She was buried at Maubuisson. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Biography

Death: Philip II of France died on July 14, 1223, at age 57, in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France.

Note: Philippe II Auguste, Philip Augustus As king, he would become one of the most successful in consolidating France into one royal domain. He seized the territories of Maine, Touraine, Anjou, Brittany, and all of Normandy from King John of England. His decisive victory at the Battle of Bouvines over King John and a coalition of forces that included Otto IV of Germany ended the immediate threat of challenges to this expansion (1214) and left Philippe as the most powerful monarch in all of Europe. He reorganized the government, bringing to the country a financial stability which permitted a sharp increase in prosperity. His reign was popular with ordinary people when he checked the power the nobles and passed some of it on to the growing middle class his reign had created. He went on the Third Crusade with Richard the Lionhearted and the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa (1189-1192). King Philippe would play a significant role in one of the greatest centuries of innovation in construction and in education. With Paris as his capital, he had the main thoroughfares paved, built a central market, Les Halles, continued the construction begun in 1163 of the Gothic Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, constructed the Louvre as a fortress and gave a charter to the University of Paris (the Sorbonne) in 1200. Under his guidance, Paris became the first city of teachers the medieval world had known. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)

Biography

Death: Isabelle of Hainaut died on March 15, 1190, at age 19, in Paris, Paris, Ile-de-France, France.

Note: Isabella of Hainaut (1170, at Lille - 1190), was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut and Countess Margaret I of Flanders. She married King Philip II of France in 1180 and brought as her dowry the province of Artois. Isabella was crowned consort of France at St Denis on May 28, 1180. As Baldwin V claimed to be a descendant of Charlemagne, the chroniclers of the time saw in this marriage a union of the Carolingian and Capetian dynasties. Though she received extravagant praise from certain annalists, she failed to win the affections of Philip, who, in 1184, waging war against Flanders, was angered at seeing Baldwin support his enemies, and called a council at Sens for the purpose of repudiating her. Robert, the kings uncle, successfully interposed. Isabella died in childbirth in 1190, and was buried in the church of Notre Dame in Paris. Her son became Louis VIII of France. (Wikipedia.)